That Reaper, Forgets
by BulletAngel
Summary: What happens when a shinigami forgets everything? Eventual WIlliamxOC
1. Chapter 1

Two small notebooks hit a small wooden desk with a sharp slap.

'Ms. Sutcliff," said the stoic reaper whose hand lay on top of said ledgers. "Where is he. You must know."

A fiery-haired reaper looked up at her boss with a tired expression. "Sir, I do. Not. Know."

"You must. You have always spent the most time with him. Do not think I have not noticed. You two leave work together. Socialise. You must know of his whereabouts."

"Mr. Spears, I do not-"

I do not have time for your foolishness Cezánne Sutcliff. This is the third time that I have learned of a spontaneous death and I am sure that Grell Sutcliff is behind them. I do not appreciate the incessant paperwork and overtime behind the workings of Mr. Sutcliff and I demand you put an end to this. This is the third woman in two weeks that should not have died. Each extraneous murder of his causes me more paperwork and each day he is gone causes me more effort. This is the end of the third month that he has shirked his responsibilities and remained absent from work. Tell. Me. Where. He. Is."

"…"

"Ce-"

"With all due respect, Mr. Spears," sneered the woman as she glared her golden and yellow eyes are her superior, "even if I did know where Grell was, why are you asking? Can not one of your position find him on your own? Why must you ask such a lowly employee? Are you truly this incapable? It makes you seem low."

"Sutcli-"

"Almost as low as a demon perhaps."

"Sutcliff! You will learn your place while you are under my authority do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" she smirked.

"Get to work. I will find him myself."

"You do that Mr. Spears."

He sent a glare in her direction before leaving the small space of the woman's cubicle.

Cezánne sighed and stared daggers at the two ledgers on her desk. She flipped through them, then picked them up and stormed out of her cubicle. "William! William!"

The door of the office of William T. Spears opened with a small bang. "That is Mr. Spears to you Cezánne. Learn to respect your superiors."

She glared at him indignantly. "Well, Mr. Spears, you should learn not to overwork your employees. I cannot possibly do all of these reapings! They're to close in time and too far apart in distance! And-"

Miss Sutcliff. I am sure you will be fine."

"-Why do I have two To- Die Lists? Two is too much!"

"One is yours, the other is Grell Sutcliff's."

"That isn't fair, why do I have to do his work too?"

"Someone must do it and we are severely understaffed, if you have not noticed."

"Well… Can't you-"

"I can take a couple reapings for you Cezánne-senpai," interrupted a smiling Ronald Knox.

The fiery woman smiled. "oh thank you Ronnie, I would really app-"

"You will o no such thing Ronald Knox."

"oh…" said the young reaper meekly. "Hello Spears-senpai."

"Hello Knox."

Cezánne sighed. "William, why can't he help? He's just trying to be h=nice. I know its hard to understand since you don't know how to be kind but give the kid a break! You don't have to be so harsh!"

"He has his work and you have yours. Get to it."

Ronald pouted and leaned his head on Cezánne's shoulder. "I'm sorry Senpai. I have to go. I've got a reaping in a few minutes. Maybe we can hang out after work today? I wish we could hang out with Grell-senpai too but…. Well anyway I'll see you later!"

The female nodded and kissed the young man's forehead before he transported into the human realm, leaving behind a fading curl of pink smoke.

Cezánne watched her superior's retreating back for a couple seconds. "William."

The man huffed inaudibly. "Yes, Miss Sutcliff?"

"This is too much work. I can't do it."

"You will be fine Miss Sutcliff. You can teleport between the reapings. Stop complaining and get to work."

"But teleporting make me dizzy!"

"If something so simple as teleporting, which is embedded into you genetic code, causes you so much trouble, then you should be working in glasses of HR, not out in the field reaping, If you are truly this incompetent then I do not need you in my employment. Get to work." At that, the dark- haired reaper disappeared in a crackle of black smoke.

The woman stood in the empty hallway and sighed angrily. "Yes, sir…."

"Ugh! He is so frustrating!" complained the female reaper to her friend in the minutes before her first reaping of the day.

"Who~ my dear~? Sang the Undertaker.

"My boss, William."

"Ah~ yes. I know the man. He can be quite annoying."

"He keeps putting down Grell and overworking me! This is the fourth time this week that I've had more work than anyone else! This time I have two whole lists! It's just not fair. And it's never been this bad! Today they're all over the place and the times aren't spaced out at all!"

"You really despise this fellow so much, my lady?"

"Yes! I do! I wish he had never gotten promoted. He's gone crazy ever since it happened! He's like a dictator, nota boss, He won't even listen to anyone other that his superiors, He thinks he's better than us and He's not! I mean Grell had triple A's when we were in academy! He could've been promoted. All three of us… we used to be…. Well not friends but we could get along. Now we can't. I can't stand William and he cannot stand me. He's made that much clear several times. He thinks he knows me but he doesn't!"

The Undertaker giggled. "oh, you're so entertaining to listen to my dear. Would you have me to have a little chat with the man? He he he."

"Mm… you don't sound as though you would talk with words Undertaker." The woman shook her head. "I don't want him hurt, I just want him to act more like a civil shinigami than an uppity one. Maybe if I hadn't known him before, it would be okay, but it just irks me that one thing as small as a promotion could make such a big difference in one person! And Grell... I haven't seen him in months! I miss him a lot. Alan his the Thorns of Death… There's demons lurking everywhere… The London Branch is just so messed up. I hate it here. it's so gloomy. I wish I could just forget everything that's happened and move to a different unit!"

The bells tolled to the tune of 10 o'clock that morning and the woman sighed as Undertaker chuckled. "You~ need to relax~ a little my little lady. W wouldn't want you to get in trouble would we? Those kinds of things can get you into great trouble in the Society. What if you get demoted to… Death forbid! HR!"

"Tch. I have to go Undertaker. Take care of yourself." She rose and opened the door to leave the Undertaker's small ship. "And if I could forget everything that man has put me through, I wouldn't give a damn which department I was in. I hate William T. Spears." With that, the woman shut the Undertaker's door with a slam and teleported away to the first destination on her list, leaving behind a 2-second puff of shimmery gold smoke.

The Undertaker giggled his maniacal giggle before shaking his head a returning to his humanly job. "She's a fiery one, that girl."

Before he clocked out for the night, Ronald Knox approached his senpai's closed office and knocked on the door.

"Enter."

Ronald could practically feel the aggravation in William's stern voice. He opened the door and closed it behind him. "William-senpai? Shift's over, it's time to go. Do you want to come to the club with Eric and me? And some girls from HR of course." He smiled as he thought about the beautiful girls he would be going out with later that night.

"I do not have time to waste on such things Ronald Knox." The older man pinched the bridge of his nose before looking up at the young half-blonde. "I'll expect your paperwork to be finished and on my desk on Monday morning do you understand? Or else you'll be staying here for overtime instead of going on another one of your group dates."

Ronald saluted half seriously half playfully, "Yes, Sir!" He began to leace his boss' isolated office when he turned back to face the dark-haired reaper. "Um… Senpai? Did Cezzánne come back yet? I was gong to take her with me to hang out…"

"She hasn't returned yet. I am sure she is just completing her duties, as she should be. Carry on. I am sure she will join you another time. She will be quite busy tonight. She'll be back soon enough."

"Yes, Sir." The young reaper left William's office disappointed.

She didn't come back. This aggravated William T. Spears very much. For an entire week, he had been understaffed even more than before because of Cezánne Sutcliffe's absence. William wanted her to come back soon so he could give her a piece of his mind. Just because she had been given extra work was no reason for her to skip work for this long! And he still hadn't found Grell Sutcliff. For all he knew, Cezánne had joined him and was helping him create mischief.

His thoughts were interrupted when Ronald knocked on his door.

"Enter."

He did. "William-senpai?"

"Yes, Ronald Knox?"

"Can I clock out? It's Friday. I'm tired. And I've been working overtime all week because of the extra reapings you've given me. I really need to go home and rest. I don't feel so good."

William looked at his clock and massaged one of his temples. "You have an hour left Ronald. Surely you have some kind of paperwork that needs completing? Stop making excuses. You're beginning to sound similar to Miss Sutcliff."

Ronald's eyes lit up at the mention of his favourite senpai. "Oh! Yeah… I guess I don't mean to… if it's a negative thing… but she's a really good reaper!... Anyway… have you found out anything about her? It has been a week you know… Or maybe located Grell-senpai? He's been gone for a very long time."

The older reaper looked up at Ronnie before shaking his hand and looking back to his work. "You are free to go Ronald. I will see you on Monday."

"But, sir! You never answered my que-"

"Leave."

"…Yes, sir." Ronald left the office, slamming it shut loud enough to show his annoyance, but quiet enough not to anger William.

William sighed and shook his heads, preparing for another long night of overtime.

That same night, in the human realm, a well-dressed crimson man walked down a road in the East End of London after killing his mistress Madam Red, and escaping her nephew and his demon butler. He now wore her long vermillion coat on his elbows. It would not fit over his shoulders. He adored the colour red, loved it with a passion that could only rival that of two lovers, He had painted many women with red; splashed them with their own blood, with the use of his modified chainsaw death scythe, and made them oh, so pretty. They had carelessly thrown away what he could never have, so he killed them. They were whores after all.

The man's long red crimson hair trailed behind him, swaying as he switched his hips side to side during his stroll. Everyone was inside their homes for the night so he had no fears about slinging his scythe over sis shoulder, relishing its beauty in the moonlight.

His red high-heeled ankle boots clacked hollowly on the uneven road.

In the almost silence, he heard a cough, and looked around him. Seeing on one, he continued to walk, but upon hearing more coughs, he could tell he was getting closer to the source of the sickly sounds, "Tch," he muttered disapprovingly, assuming it was just another prostitute dying on the poor streets of East End.

Son, his yellow-green eyes fell on a small, shivering body, curled up on the doorstep of a townhouse. He grinned a sharp, shark-toothed grin and released a sadistic chuckle. "Another whore for me to paint in pretty, pretty red?" He playfully pursed his lips and put a finger to his chin, pretending to think. "I suppose I have time!"

He approached to body and looked the woman over. She appeared to be sleeping, and had a ghostly palour about her face and hands.

"Hm," said the reaper, confused. "This is odd." He trailed his hands over the woman's clothes. They were full of holes, ragged and dirty, but he could see that they were not the clothes of a poor woman. They had once been a beautiful suit, ruffled and tailored to the woman's body. What was once red velvet was now mucky brown and tattered.

Suddenly, the woman's eyes flashed open, and golden and yellow orbs looked through broken pink glasses at the man hovering over her. Her confused expression told him all he needed to know. "Don't you know who I am?"

Suddenly, a long sharp, pruning pole of a scythe pierced the bricks next t the man's feet an both parties looked up to see its owner. "Grell Sutcliff," spoke the stern voice of William T. Spears. "You have broken several rules of the Shinigami Dispatch Society."

His voice faded away in Grell's mind, which had now clouded with worry. "Nononononono!" He frantically uncovered the sick woman's head from under a small blanket and could instantly see the red of her hair, even under the mud and grime.

It matched his own.

"Sutcliff!" boomed William as he effortlessly jumped from a rooftop to the doorstep. "Are you listening?"

"No!"

"Well that is incredibly ru-"

"Cezzánne!" cried out the crimson reaper, gathering the woman in his arms.

She coughed into his shoulder.

She never spoke.

"Cezzánne!" cried the man frantically, "My name is Grell Sutcliff! I'm your brother!"

"…"

"Cezzánne please!"

"She stared at him blankly, blinking slowly. She did not know who he was.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow! I'm really sorry to everyone who followed and reviewed. I tried writing chapter 2 three times but first I lost my notebook and then my computer decided to just die horribly. After all of that I wasn't feeling all that motivated to write this again (I knew I would get back to it but I didn't want to do it at the time) but after I let my friend Jordan read it she essentially begged/motivated me to do this (EVERYONE SAY THANK YOU JORDAN~!) Jordan also did the cover photo of Cezzánne for us (she took creative liberties). Well here I am! Back from the dead with lots of progress! As I'm writing this I'm thinking that this chapter is not as long as my first one (sorry) but I'm finally uploading! So this is chapter two. Chapter three is done but I will upload it in just a couple days (I'm so mean) and chapter four is in the works! So if anyone is still out there I appreciate you sticking with this story! I hope you like it as much as I do :)**

**Second order of business: Thank you to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! I read back over it a few weeks after uploading and noticed a bunch of random mistakes and I promise to do something about those soonish. Also there were supposed to be breaks between time lapses but for some reason they didn't show up. I hope it wasn't too confusing and for this story I hope they show up.**

**Also- I've inserted a few things throughout the chapters that will give hints as to what will happen in the story if you can figure them out ;)**

**And I didn't do this last time so: I don't own any of this except Cezzánne and my plot. All other characters and information is from Yana Toboso.**

Red heels clicked sharply on the white tile floors of Shinigami Dispatch. After releasing his death scythe to a small rip between the dimensions of Earth and the Shinigami realm Grell had angrily teleported away from the living world still holding his beloved sister in his arms.

William followed his red-clad subordinate throughout the Dispatch hallways, knowing that if he let them out of hi sight, they would have opportunity to make plans and get a story together. "Reaper Grell Sutcliff I demand that you stop this moment."

"William! She's hurt! I had nothing to do with this! I had no idea I swear!" He stepped into the medical wing of the Dispatch building and laid his now sleeping sister down on a cot before slipping out into the hallway.

William followed. The two had a quiet rushed argument.

"Sutcliff stop this I will not play this game with you any longer. I do not intend to allow you two to cause me anymore unnecessary work. Contrary to what I know you all believe I do not find pleasure in filling out form after form when I could be at my house. For Death's sake Sutcliff it's not my job to clean up after your messes!"

"William you goddamn idiot I've told you I had nothing to do with this and she didn't know where I was or what I was doing! For Death's Sake William when will you get that stick out of you ass?!"

The two reapers looked at each other for a few moments.

William pushed his glasses up with his scythe.

Grell put a hand on his hip.

They gave their responses in unison.

"I apologize Sutcliff. That was out of line."

"You're a fool Will. A goddamn idiot."

"… You know you two will be receiving a harsh punishment. Especially you Reaper Grell Sutcliff."

"Tch.," Grell uttered disapprovingly. "Will, I'll take my punishment but-"

"Of course you will take your punishment. You do not have a choice in the matter."

"Yes. Well. If you punish my sister I'll refuse my punishment. I won't work. You need me Will. I'm the best you-"

"The way I see it, you need me. From your comments just today I can simply add 'insubordination' to your list of problems. You are in no position to-" he raised his scythe with both hands so that the pole protected him from the roaring chainsaw that was suddenly streaming towards him. "You're in no position to tell me what or will or will not do Sutcliff." He'd become apathetic towards these little violent outbursts of Grell's"

"Will, I swear to you you pompous son-of-a-oh?" He turned his head to look towards where he felt something brush against his hip. Cezzánne had walked out of the room and was beginning to walk down the hallway opposite of the two male reapers' heated struggle. "Ah! Cezzánne darling!" Grell waved his chainsaw in the air side to side in a panic before sending it to his pocket rip in space and going after Cezzánne, the sounds of his heels on the tiles, William's huff and footsteps following Grell as he walked. "Cezzánne?"

The younger of the red reapers continued to walk along, her eyes wide and amazed. She made no reply as if she hadn't heard her brother.

Grell had a sad, pained expression on his face. "Cezzánne honey… ah, Cezzánne stop for a…" he reached out to pull his sister back, but couldn't stop her before she ran into someone, "… minute… Why hello there Mister Jameson. Sorry about that. She's a bit off today." He pulled Cezzánne away from the imposing man before them.

William huffed and prepared for the worst. His boss was here. That was never a good thing. "Honestly," he said under his breath before bowing a big to the older man. "Hello Mister Jameson I hope your trip was pleasant. Please tell me if there is anything I can help you with this evening."

"Spears," boomed Jameson. "Good work on finding these two. Sutcliff, Grell. Come with me. Spears, do something about Sutcliff, Cezzánne."

William gave the man a nod, pinching the bridge of his nose while leading the woman to his office by her tattered sleeve.

He had been doing alright, He never allowed people into his office unless they were being punished or delivering completed paperwork, so being isolated with Cezzánne was doing a number on him. He couldn't focus on his paperwork wither padding around his room and touching all of his books so he sat at his desk, quietly reading the same sentence over and over in his mind. Frustrated, he changed a glance at the red woman as she gently rolled his glass snowglobe off of one of his shelves and onto the floor below where it shattered and spilled liquid and small white particles onto the floor. He rarely was the London snow because he had so much overtime that he didn't often go to the Living World. Now he would have to buy another. He uttered a "tch" of disapproval and stood from behind his desk. A knock sounded on his door. "Honestly." He directed the woman to a chair across form his desk. "Sit." She sat. "Stay."

"She's not a dog Will."

"I did not say you could enter."

"Jameson said I could come. Such a handsome man…"

"Jameson?"

"Oh, yes. Don't you think he's just dreamy?"

"He told you to come here? Is he still here?"

"He demoted me."

"Indefinitely?"

"Until you trust me and give me authorization to get my scythe again."

"Hm. So you won't be working in the field then."

"No I will! But it might take longer because my new scythes are so small." He raised the two small apparatuses. "Safety scissors… but they're red~! So beautiful!" He chuckled and let his eyes fall on Cezzánne. "Oh yeah, there _is_ one more thing… You know when I dropped Cezzánne off in the medical wing? Well I guess the nurse that saw her asked her some questions and did some simple tests… anyway she found me when I was talking to Jameson and… she said that Cezzánne could be suffering from memory loss and shock, which could contribute to her confusion and inability to speak. She can nod and shake her head of shrug but… I guess it seems like she does not even have the ability to speak. The nurse said something could happen later to jog her memory but for now she's in a very fragile mental state."

"Honestly, Sutcliff, what does this really have to do with anything?"

"Well, um…" The red reaper chewed his lip nervously. "Jameson heard what the nurse said and … long story short he wants to run a little experiment. He knew how great of a reaper Cezzánne was and he doesn't want to lose that. He wants you to train her back up so she can be just as good as she was before and in order to make it easier on you he wants her to stay wit h you. That way you can 'keep an eye on her' as well as getting her back to 'successful working status.'"

"You must be daft if you think I am going to believe you. Keep you r sister at my residence and train her personally? I am overworked as it is and-"

"I know you wouldn't believe me."

"Then why bring up this foolishness. It is evident that you only wish to put your problems onto me."

"No! He-"

"I did tell him to relay this message, Spears."

William straightened at hearing his boss' voice. "Sir, do you really think this is the best idea?"

"Yes, I do. It will all work out. Sutcliff's scythe has been confiscated and can only be retrieved from an in-person recommendation by you. I know how overworked you have been and keeping an eye on Sutcliff while he is in the field would be an inconvenience. His new scythes will prevent him from causing too much damage on the Earth. While you are training Sutcliff, Cezzánne, she can help you with the paperwork and by the time she is competent at working again, it will permanently take some of the work of your shoulders. I know what I am doing Spears, William. Do you intend to disobey?"

"I- no, sir, Thank you sir."

The tall man nodded towards William, shot Grell a sharp look, and exited the office.

"Told you~!"

"Shut up Sutcliff." The dark reaper sat back at his desk and massaged his temples. "This is a disaster, she is completely useless,"

"That's my sister you're talking about and you're getting mighty close to crossing a line you probably don't want to cross."

"Would you like to counter-argue? She cannot talk and she has the knowledge and attention span of a two-year-old."

"…Please, Will? Can't you just be nice to her for a little while? Can't you try? I promise if you really truly help her, I'll go by all the rules and do all my work right~!"

"I do not really have a choice…" He stood and began to gather his things into a neat pile. "This 'experiment' will be a reflection on me and my ability to perform my duties as a manage. If you uphold your duties, maybe they'll promote you back up again. They might even give you a knife to use." He picked up the pile of papers and headed to exit the office. He looked at Cezzánne and nodded his head towards her. "Come."

She raised a brow at the retreating figure before looking at Grell. He big his lip sadly and nodded. "Go on, you're going to stay with the scary man for now." As his sister got up and joined their boss as he began locking down dispatch for the night, Grell shook his head fondly. "Ah, cold as ever Will."

William loosened his tie as he entered his smallish, standard, managerial apartment. It was basically the same as when he moved in. masculine structure. A sharp black couch in the living room with a matching chair at its cornet. The kitchen had all the amenities, though it had never been used. William either worked through dinner, didn't want to go out with the members of his staff, or was too tired to make something at home. The one personal thing he had added was a cooler that stood next to the lack chair. It was shaped like a globe and anyone who saw it would assume it was on e. At all times it held cubed ice, a whiskey glass and his favourite brand of whiskey from his academy days. He put three cubes in the glass and poured some of the amber liquid into it, shaking th class a little and sinking into the chair. "you're tracking in dirt."

The red woman gave him an apologetic look and began to take off her wet and muddy outerwear.

William sipped his drink before setting it in the cooler and grabbing a notebook and a pen. He began to write as he spoke. "Tomorrow we will have to get you some new glasses. We can pick up some clothes from your and Grell's apartment. And I will have to enroll you in Academy." He placed the notebook down and undid his tie, letting it hang loosely around his neck. "You can shower first. I was not prepared for this so you will have to wear one of my shirts to sleep." He disappeared into his room for a few moments before coming back with a pile of things. "Here is a shirt, two towels, and a pair of pyjama pants. The bathroom is through my bedroom. I will prepare the couch for you to sleep. Do not wander about my room."

Cezzánne nodded and obediently went off to prepare for the night.

When Cezzánne came back to the living room she was drowning in her senpai's clothes. She was much slimmer than he was, and the broader shirt and waistband were about to fall off of her. She held the shirt material at her chest and wrapped her free arm around herself in hopes of staying clothed. She looked around for William. Je was still working on his drink and massaged his temple with his free hand. He quirked an eyebrow seeing how the woman was holding herself. "Are you cold? There are a few blankets on the couch for you."

She nodded, knowing that her presence was causing a problem and not wanting to be a further nuisance to the man.

He swallowed the remaining liquid in his glass before emptying the ice into the kitchen sink. "I'll be off," he said before locking himself in his room for the night. He knew that no matter how long Jameson's 'experiment' took, it would feel like an eternity to him.

And he was quite familiar with eternity.

"Cezzánne… tch, Honestly."

**Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!**


End file.
